Speed measuring and controlling device.



J. H. GORE. SPEED MEASURING AND CONTROLLING DEVICE.

I APPLIOATIOI I'ILED IAE. 1}, 1913. I 1 1 1 0,900.

Patented Sept Ira/was UNITED STATES ,PA ENT OFFICE.

JAMES HENRY con-n, or NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, Assitmon 01'" ONE-HALF T ELIZABETH HARRIS COBB, or nnsnvzm, rnunnssnn.

SPEED MEASQRINGAND CONTROLLING DEVICE.

Specification 6: Letters Patent. P t t d 15, 14,

Application filed March 14, 1913. i Serial Io. 754,280.

To all whom it may concern I Be'it known that I, JAMES H. Gone, a

citizen of the United States, agd a resident of Nashville, in the county of avidson and a State of Tennessee, have made certain new and useful Improvements in SpeedMeasun ing and Controlling Devices, of which the following is 'a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for measuring speed and fon'controlling the speed of vehicles, and it c0nsists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide 1:; means for accurately indicating the speed of a vehicle and for enabling the user of the vehicle to set the device so that it will automatically control the speed. y

A further object of myinvention is to provide a novel form of apparatus a or accomplishing the above named resu ts, the device being primarily designed to be used with the ignition 'circuits of automob les having internal eombustionengines or with the motor circuit of electric automobiles.

.A'furtherobject of my invention is to provide means for. accomplishing'the above named. results which are simple in their na-. ture and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages will appear features of the. device will be particularly panying drawings forming part of this application in which similar-reference characters indicate 1 like views than which- Figure 1 is a face view of the device, Fig. 0 2 is a side view thereof, 3 is a face view of the contact disk, Fig. f is a detail view showing the centrifugal device, and Fig. 5

is a detail view showing aportion of the speed control mechanism. H

48 In carrying out my invention I provide a base plate 1 having a lower bracket 2 secured thereto and an upper bracket 3 and a frame portion 4 disposed between the brackets The upper bracket has an extension' 3bctween which and the lower bracket 0. shafts? is journaled. The shaft is pro= Vided with a collar 6 near its lower end to i keep it in position. At 5 the shaft 5 is enlarged to receive a-cr'o'ss member 7 which is rigid with I the portion 5? and whose ends 1 v in the. following specification and the novel parts in the severalpass loosely through the walls of a ring 8. he ring s thus free a) turn on the sup port 7. Disposed upon the shaft 5 is a sleeve 9 having a slot 9" arranged to receive a pin 5 secured to the shaft;5;. Secured to the sleeve by means of an integral collar 10 a disk 10 and pivotallyconnecting the ring 8 and the collar 10* is a link 11. A spring 12 is disposed between a flange 5 on the enlarged portion 5 of the shaft and a flange Q 'on-jthe sleeve 9.

At 13 I have shown a circular rack which is integral with the sleeve 9, and which is designed to engage a gear l l rigidly securod to a shaft '15 journaledin lateral ex-' tensions 3* of the bracket 3. A dial plate 16 is secured to the frame portion 4 and 'the end of the shaft 15 projects through "the dial plate and has secured to it an indicating hand or'pointer 16". The dial plate is provided with-numerals such as those shown at 17 on its face for indicating the. speed.

. J ournaled in the frame portlon 4 is a stub shaft 18 bearing a contact disk 19 and also a gear 20. The contact disk is preferably made of three parts, as shown in Fig. 2. The outer faces 19 are made of metal and the inner portion 19 is made of some suitas shown in Fig. 3 so as to permit the in:

sulation'19 to extend flush with the surface of the disk. As will be seen from Fig. 3 this insulation extends, to the outer edge of the disk as shown at and its outer line is curved, gradually approaching thecenter until at m the t ickness of the metal is greatest. p y In Fig. 5 Ihave shown a key shaft 21 which is mounted in brackets 2 and is provided with a gear 23 arranged to enga-gIe' the gear 20 on the shaft 18. The outer end of the key shaft 21 is preferably provided with a barrel such that shown at 2% in Fig. 2

- able insulating material such as fiber, rubwhenever the vehicle is running the shaft5 will be turned. The rotation of the shaft 5 will tend to cause the ring 8 to assume a position at right angles to the shaft like that shown in Fig. 4. This movement will be resisted by means of a spring 12. The greater the speed of the vehicle the greater will be the centrifugal force tending to compress the spring, since the ring will tend to move the disk 10 through the medium of the link and also the sleeve 9. The movement of the sleeve 9 will cause the movement of the integral rack 13 and hence the revolution of the shaft 15 proportional to the movement of the sleeve. The dial 17 is designed to be graduated so that as the speed increases the hand will indicate the increase in speed. 'As the speed decreases the spring 12 will, of course, push the sleeve back to its normal position, thereby bringing the hand on the dial with it.

The means for controlling the speed consists of the disk 10 which is in engagement with the contact disk 19. The contact disk may be turned by inserting the key in the barrel 24 and turning the shaft 21 which through the gear 23 will turn theshaft 18 so as to revolve the contact disk 19. The contact disk, as stated before, is mounted on the stub shaft 18 which is carried by the frame member 4. The latter is insulated from the plate 1 by suitable insulation such as that shown at 27 and 28. The shaft 15 extends through an opening 16 in the dial plate 16 so that the latter is not in contact with the shaft 15. A binding post 29 is connected to the frame portion 4: and a similar binding post 30 may be connected to any part of the frame such as on the bracket 2 The wires 31 and 32 may be in the ignition circuit of an internal combustion engine, or in the motor circuit of an electric vehicle. If the contact disk 19 should be turned to the point y (see Fig. 3) then the electric circuit would be broken, but if the contact disk should be turned to a point 2 then the circuit would be established. Any movement of the disk 10 will be toward the shaft 18 so that when the disk 10 reaches a point as .2 (see Fi 3) it will now be upon the insulating portion 19 and hence the circuit will be broken. By turning the contact disk the space which the disk 10 has to traverse before reaching the insulating portion 19* may be varied so as to accord with the predetermined speeds. The device may thus be set to automatically break the circuit at any predetermined speed by inserting the key and turning it. The hand 33 will move \over the-face of the dial 34: (see Fig. l) to the desired speed. The key may then be withdrawn.

If the device is an electric vehicle and the speed exceeds the predetermined amount the circuit will be broken and the vehicle will ,slow down, wherbthe circuit willagain be made. The ignition circuit may be broken in a similar manner so that it is necessary for the automobile to slow down to the desired speed before the ignition circuit is completed.

The device described above forms an efiicient speedometer and at the same time it absolutely prevents the exceeding of the speed limit when once set. The device is simple in construction and positive in acti on and the parts cannot readily get out of older. Each device is designed to have a key of a different shape with a barrel to coriespond so that the speed control mechanism cannot be tampered with.

I claim l. A speed measuring and controlling device comprising a rotatable shaft, a sleeve slidably mounted thereon, a centrifugal device carried by said shaft and having connection with the sleeve, a disk carried by said sleeve and movable along the shaft therewith, a circular contact disk having a conducting portion of varying width on one side thereof arranged to be engaged by said disk, and means for rotating the contact member to vary the time of engagement of the conducting portion with the first named disk during a given movement of the latter along the shaft.

2. A speed measuring and controlling device comprising a rotatable shaft, a sleeve slidably mounted thereon, a centrifugal deice carried by said shaft and having connection with the sleeve, a disk carried b said sleeve and movable along the sha t therewith, and a circular contact disk, the

"center of said contact disk being on a line extending through the axis of said shaft, said contact disk having an interior insulating portion and a conducting rim portion, the width of said conducting ortion being greatest along one radius of the contact wheel and being progressively less on the other radii of the contact Wheel.

3. A speed measuring and controlling device comprising a rotatable shaft, a sleeve slidably mounted thereon, a centrifugal device carried bysaid shaft and having connection with the sleeve, a disk carried by said sleeve and movable along the shaft therewith, a circular contact disk, the center of said contact disk being on a line extending through the axis of said shaft, said contact disk having an interior insulating portion and a conducting rim portion, the width being progressively less on the other radii of the contact wheel, and means for revolving the contact wheel to bring predetermined parts of the conducting portion in engagement with said disk.

4. A speed measuring and controllin device comprising a rotatable shaft, a eeve slidably mounted thereon,a centrifugal ,de-'

. vice carried by said shaft and having con'- nection with the sleeve, 9. disk carried b said sleeve and movable along the sha t therewith, a circularcontact disk, the center of said contact disk being on a line extending through the axis of said shaft, said contact disk having an interior insulating portion and a conducting rim portion, the width of said conducting portioqtbeinggreatest along one radius of the contact wheel and being prdgressively less on the other radii of the contact wheel, means for revolving the contact wheel to bring predetermined parts of the conducting portion in. engagement with said isk, said means comprising a shaft for t e contact wheel, a gear on said vice comprising a rotatable shaft, a sleeve slidably mounted thereon, a centrifugal device carried bysaid shaft and having connectionwith the sleeve, a disk carried b said sleeve and movable along the shat therewith,-a circular contact disk, the'center of said contact disk being on a line extendthrou h the axisof said shaft, said con-' tact disk aving an interior insulating portion a'nd a conducting rim portion, the width ofsaidconducting portion being greatest along one radius of the contact wheel and being progressively less on the other radii of the contact wheel, means for revolving the contact Wheel to bring predetermined parts of the conducting portion in' engagement with said disk, said means comprisinga.

shaft for the contact wheel, a gear on said contact wheel shaft, a key shaft arranged to receive the key, a gear betweenfs'aid key shaft and said first named gear, a dial having indicating members, and a hand rigidly secured to the contact wheelshaftL ,6. A speed measuring and controlling deslidably mounted thereon, a centrifugal device carried by said shaft and having connection with the sleeve, a disk carried b said sleeve and movable along the she t therewith, and a circular contact disk, the center of said contact disk being on a lihe extending through the axis of said shaft, said contact disk having an interior insulating portion and a conducting rim portion,

said conducting rim portion being arranged to engage the disk carried by said sleeve, and

the width of said conducting portion being greater along certain radii 0 the contact wheelthan on certain other radil.

. JAMES HENRY CORE. Witnesses: r

\ I W. M. Basso,

E. G. LUTON.

copiel of thin patent my be obtained for flve'oents' each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. I

45 vice comprising a rotatable shaft, a sleeve 7 

